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the passion of gluttony; 14Α_012 For Shinar is interpreted as ‘wakefulness of teeth’; then we also build a tower, that is, we make much of the fleshly passions and we build, joining passion to passion. “even to heaven”; for those who are zealous for vain things never wish to cease, but have an insatiable desire for them. But God stops the building of the tower and "confuses the tongues" whenever, chastising us for our own good, he checks our wickedness; for whenever he chastises with sickness the one who has been overcome by the impurity of fornication, or corrects with poverty the one enslaved to gluttony, he makes, as it were, a checking of the tower of the passions, "confusing" the tongues at the same time; for by restraining with sickness the fornicator who is always meditating on fornication, causing him to be occupied with the health of his body, it is as if he confused the voice of the constant meditation of the passion.

QUESTION 3 What does "David playing the psaltery and calming the evil spirit of Saul" signify? RESPONSE Everyone who, like the blessed David, shepherds the sheep, that is, the

rational part of the soul, and conquers anger and desire just as he did the lion and the bear, this one, using the word of teaching with a certain high contemplation, delights the hearer and calms the passions of wickedness within him.

QUESTION 4 Since it is written in the Gospel that "unless one is 14Α_014 born of

water and the Spirit" and in another place again "he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire," I ask to learn what the difference is.

RESPONSE In each person the Holy Spirit comes to be, as water it cleanses the defilement of the flesh, as Spirit it washes out the stains of the soul, as the Holy Spirit it lays down the ways of the virtues, and as fire it makes him a god by grace, the divine marks of virtue shining upon him.

QUESTION 5 Since according to Gregory the Theologian, who says in his Oration on Pentecost,

'the apostles received perfection through three gifts, first by healing sicknesses and driving out demons, second by the in-breathing after the resurrection, and third the Spirit itself essentially in the form of tongues of fire,' how can someone, if he becomes equal to the apostles in virtue, receive the said gifts and how should one understand "essentially," I ask that it be interpreted as in an example.

RESPONSE It is possible for us too, if we hasten to become imitators of the apostles,

first through the practice of the virtues to command the passions and to heal the sicknesses of the soul, second through natural contemplation to restore nature to itself, third through the teaching of the word—for this is what the tongues of fire mean—to become 14Α_016 fire to the hearers, at once consuming their passions like a fire and at the same time enlightening them. But how the Holy Spirit was at work previously and how it essentially came upon the apostles at the last, it is necessary to interpret as in an example. Just as when a piece of wood is placed on a frying pan, and then, when the fire is kindled, the wood receives the heat of the fire through the medium of the frying pan, so previously the Spirit worked dimly in the saints; but if, according to the same example, one lifts away the intervening frying pan and the fire immediately seizes the wood,

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τῆς γαστριμαργίας πάθος· 14Α_012 Σενναὰρ γὰρ 'γρηγόρησις ὀδόντων' ἑρμηνεύεται· εἶτα καὶ οἰκοδομοῦμεν πύργον, τουτέστιν τὰ σαρκικὰ πάθη περὶ πολλοῦ ποιούμεθα καὶ οἰκοδομοῦμεν πάθος πάθει συνάπτοντες. «Ἕως δὲ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ»· οὐ γάρ ποτε παύσασθαι βούλονται οἱ περὶ τὰ μάταια τὴν σπουδὴν ἔχοντες, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπλήρωτον τὴν περὶ αὐτὰ ὄρεξιν ἔχουσιν. Παύει δὲ ὁ Θεὸς τὴν τοῦ πύργου οἰκοδομὴν καὶ «συγχεῖ τὰς γλώσσας» ὅτ᾽ ἂν πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον παιδεύων ἐγκόπτει τὴν ἡμετέραν κακίαν· ὅτ᾽ ἂν γὰρ τὸν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀκαθαρσίᾳ τῆς πορνείας ἡττημένον νόσῳ παιδεύει ἢ τὸν τῇ γαστριμαργίᾳ δεδουλωμένον πενίᾳ σωφρονίζει, οἱονεὶ ἐγκοπὴν τοῦ τῶν παθῶν πύργου ποιεῖται, «συγχέων» ἅμα καὶ τὰς γλώσσας· τὸν γὰρ πόρνον πάντοτε περὶ πορνείας μελετῶντα καταστείλας τῇ νόσῳ, εἰς τὴν περὶ τοῦ σώματος ὑγεῖαν ἀπασχολεῖσθαι ποιήσας, οἱονεὶ τὴν φωνὴν συγχέας τῆς συνεχοῦς μελέτης τοῦ πάθους.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 3 Τί σημαίνει «∆αβὶδ ψάλλων καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν πνεῦμα τοῦ Σαοὺλ καταπαύων»; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Πᾶς ὁ κατὰ τὸν μακάριον ∆αβὶδ ποιμαίνων τὰ πρόβατα, τουτέστιν τὸ

λογιστικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ νικῶν θυμὸν καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος τὸν λέοντα καὶ τὴν ἄρκον, οὗτος τῷ λόγῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας χρώμενος μετά τινος ὑψηλῆς θεωρίας ἡδύνει τὸν ἀκούοντα καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς κακίας πάθη κατευνάζει.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 4 Ἐπειδὴ γέγραπται ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ ὅτι «ἐάν τις μὴ 14Α_014 γεννηθῇ ἐξ

ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος» καὶ ἐν ἄλλῳ τόπῳ πάλιν «αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί», παρακαλῶ μαθεῖν τίς ἡ διαφορά.

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἐν ἑκάστῳ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα γινόμενον, ὡς μὲν ὕδωρ τὸν τῆς σαρκὸς

μολυσμὸν καθαίρει, ὡς δὲ Πνεῦμα τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς κηλίδας ἐκπλύνει, ὡς δὲ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ὑποτίθεται τοὺς τρόπους τῶν ἀρετῶν, ὡς δὲ πῦρ Θεὸν κατὰ χάριν ἀποτελεῖ, τὰ θεῖα τῆς ἀρετῆς γνωρίσματα ἐπιλάμπον αὐτῷ.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 5 Ἐπειδὴ κατὰ τὸν Θεολόγον Γρηγόριον λέγοντα ἐν τῷ τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς λόγῳ,

'οἱ ἀπόστολοι διὰ τριῶν χαρισμάτων εἰλήφασιν τὸ τέλειον, πρῶτον μὲν νόσους ἰώμενοι καὶ δαίμονας ἀπελαύνοντες, δεύτερον δὲ τὸ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἐμφύσημα, τρίτον δὲ αὐτὸ οὐσιωδῶς τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐν εἴδει γλωσσῶν πυρίνων', πῶς τις, εἴπερ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις γένηται κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν ἰσοστάσιος, δύναται λαβεῖν τὰ εἰρημένα χαρίσματα καὶ πῶς χρὴ νοεῖν τὸ «οὐσιωδῶς», ὡς ἐν ὑποδείγματι ἑρμηνευθῆναι παρακαλῶ.

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ ∆υνατὸν καὶ ἡμᾶς, εἴπερ μιμηταὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων σπεύσωμεν γενέσθαι,

πρῶτον μὲν διὰ τῆς πρακτικῆς ἐπιτάσσειν τοῖς πάθεσιν καὶ τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς ἐξιᾶσθαι νόσους, δεύτερον δὲ διὰ τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας τὴν φύσιν ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτὴν ἀποκαθιστάνειν, τρίτον διὰ τῆς τοῦ λόγου διδασκαλίας τοῦτο γὰρ αἱ γλῶσσαι πῦρ γίνεσθαι 14Α_016 τοῖς ἀκούουσιν, ἅμα μὲν τὰ πάθη αὐτῶν πυρὸς δίκην ἀναλίσκοντας, ἅμα δὲ καὶ φωτίζοντας. Πῶς δὲ ἐνήργει τὸ πρότερον τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα καὶ πῶς οὐσιωδῶς τελευταῖον ἐν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἐπεφοίτησεν, ἀναγκαῖον ὡς ἐν ὑποδείγματι διερμηνεῦσαι. Καθάπερ ξύλον ἐπιτιθέμενον τηγάνῳ, εἶτα, τοῦ πυρὸς ὑφαπτομένου, διὰ μέσου τοῦ τηγάνου τῆς θέρμης τοῦ πυρὸς μεταλαμβάνει τὸ ξύλον, οὕτως τὸ πρότερον ἀμυδρῶς ἐνήργει τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις· εἰ δέ τις κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ ὑπόδειγμα ἐπαρεῖ τὸ διὰ μέσου τήγανον καὶ τὸ πῦρ ἀμέσως τοῦ ξύλου περιδράξεται,